Genetically modified cells can be made to communicate with each other as if they were electronic circuits. Using yeast cells, a group of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has taken a groundbreaking step towards being

As the father of a 9 year old boy, I find that I can usually get my fill of long explanations of what makes jokes funny without even asking, but 1) sometimes I want MORE, and 2) what about people who aren’t the parents of 9 year old boys?

So, while I’m over here reveling in these guys’ word counts, almost everybody else can consider this a public service. Go … Read the rest

Any kind of sexual stimulation of the genitals triggers the dopamine system in the brain and can push you over that threshold into falling in love with that person. And in fact, with orgasm, there’s a real flood of oxytocin and vasopressin, other chemicals in the brain associated with the feeling of deep attachment.

There’s a lot of evidence suggesting that dieting isn’t particularly good at helping maintain long term weight loss. Now, a new study hints at a possible cause. Dieting might be making lots of unpleasant, stressy changes in your brain, that could linger long after you’ve gained back whatever weight you managed to take off.

On the topic of stem cells and their use in medicine, it’s not always easy to sort out the fairly factual from media mendacity. Fortunately, thanks to a February 7th episode of National Geographic Explorer, there’s at least one cool thing that we know stem cells can do. Applied properly, they can help severe burns heal practically overnight. And for added awesome, “applied properly” means they were sprayed on … Read the rest

They consigned these curves to the back of the math books. They said, these are pathological curves, and we don’t have to discuss them. […] The mathematicians who were saying these were pathological shapes, they were breathing those words with fractal lungs.

Ethno-mathematician Ron Eglash unfolds the fractal for us, and then locates it in African architecture, village planning, courtly etiquette, and in … Read the rest

We homo sapiens feel a certain sense of superiority, what with our language, civilization, technology, and general big-brainedness. But those brains aren’t always aware of their own limitations. At last year’s TEDx Canberra, Ash Donaldson gave a crash course on the ways that our brains fool us into thinking we’re smarter than we actually are. Emphasis on the crash.

And cognitive dissonance is only one example of how we … Read the rest

If you’ve ever had a cold, known someone who’s had a cold, or walked down the cold remedy aisle at the pharmacy on your way to the contraceptives, chances are you’ve seen them. Pills, powders and potions, all claiming to treat cold and flu symptoms by helping your body help itself.

“Immune boosting” remedies, like vitamin pills and herbal supplements, purport to provide a jolt of extra juice to your … Read the rest